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504 Barry’s Advanced Construction of Buildings
8.3 Off-site production
Off-site production is a process that incorporates prefabrication and pre-assembly to
produce units and/or modules that are then transported to site and positioned to form a
permanent work. A number of drivers are behind the desire for more off-site production:
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Skills shortages
Government and industry pressure
Changes in Building Regulations
Client pressure for better performing buildings
Speed of project completion
Although different manufacturers adopt different strategies, generically speaking, the offsite
production process has a number of advantages and disadvantages compared with
more familiar approaches to the construction of buildings.
Advantages
There are a large number of reasons why off-site production may be advantageous. Some
of the most consistent arguments for moving construction process off site into the factory
are related to the age-old challenge of attaining and maintaining quality. The quality of
buildings relies to a large extent on the weather at the time of production, the availability
of appropriately skilled personnel to construct the building safely and the control of materials
used in the construction of the building. Economic benefits tend to relate to repetition
of units and better predictability of workflow.
Control of the working conditions
Operations on the construction site will be influenced by the weather, with inclement
weather leading to disrupted workflows and the possibility of inconsistent quality of work.
Reducing the amount of work exposed to the elements, by moving it into a protected
factory environment, makes a lot of sense. With over 80% of the production process undertaken
in a controlled indoor environment, the construction remains dry during assembly
and the flow of work is consistent and easier to control to a specified quality standard.
Operatives tend to be more productive because of the improved working environment,
which also promotes better health, safety and well-being. Skilled trades that are affected by
weather conditions, such as painting, can be conducted under controlled and consistent
conditions, thus helping to ensure better quality work. Control of dust and pollutants
during production is easier and there is rarely any need for scaffolding, further helping to
improve health and safety factors. Most units are delivered as complete modules and may
be positioned on site in a day, an operation that can be done in most weather conditions
(strong winds being an exception). There is less reliance on scaffolding and working at
height, thus helping to improve the safety of workers on the construction site by reducing
their exposure to risk.
Skills
There has been a shortage of skilled workers in the British construction sector for some
time. Off-site production utilises large-scale equipment and robotic manufacturing, thus